Christina Smith has been practicing law for twenty-seven years. She has been Of Counsel at Powell & Majestro, PLLC since 2016.

Ms. Smith began her legal career as a Writ Clerk for the West Virginia Supreme Court. Since leaving the West Virginia Supreme Court, she has spent the last 25 years litigating complex, high-profile mass litigation cases, including tobacco and pharmaceutical litigation. She has represented hundreds of governmental entities, including states, cities, counties and tribal sovereign nations, as well as class actions on behalf of individuals with consumer protection claims.

Ms. Smith has focused her career on law and briefing and appellate work in complex litigation, focusing on consumer fraud and defective products, including drugs and medical devices. She is admitted to the United States Supreme Court, plus the federal and state courts in West Virginia and Kentucky. She participated in drafting many appeal briefs, including the appeal brief in Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Co., Inc., 556 U.S. 868 (2009), which resulted in an opinion in the appellant’s favor. Her appearance before the United States Supreme Court was sponsored by nationally renowned attorney Theodore Olson, who argued the case. The Caperton case inspired the John Grisham novel The Appeal.

She was part of the brief writing team that successfully defended $20 million in plaintiffs’ verdicts arising out of the vaginal mesh MDL. Campbell v. Boston Sci. Corp., 882 F.3d 70 (2018); Cisson v. C.R. Bard, Inc., 810 F.3d 913 (4th Cir. 2016). She also worked on successfully defending a multi-million-dollar verdict awarded as a result of injuries sustained by a worker in a work-related incident. Richard Edwards, Jr. v. Cardinal Transport, Inc., 821 Fed. Appx. 167 (4th 2020).

Ms. Smith is currently working on the nationwide opioid litigation against the opioid manufacturers, distributors, pharmacies and Pharmacy Benefit Managers (“PBMs”) which the Washington Post has called “the largest and most complex case in the history of jurisprudence.” Her involvement includes serving on the Law and Briefing Committee of MDL 2804, In re: National Prescription Opiate Litigation and as a member of three trial teams. She also serves on the law and briefing teams in many state opioid cases. In her role, Ms. Smith has drafted detailed Complaints encompassing various state law, including the most recent Amended Complaints in the national bellwether cases against the PBMs, and briefed significant discovery, summary judgment, and pretrial issues. Her attention to detail allows her to execute complex briefing in trial and appellate courts. She also served as part of the “on call” law and briefing team, monitoring discovery issues and providing rapid response to the trial and discovery teams.

Ms. Smith is part of the legal team retained by the West Virginia State Auditor and West Virginia PEIA to pursue claims against the insulin manufacturers and PBMs for artificially inflating the price of insulin at the expense of self-funded health plans and the members and beneficiaries. The suit seeks monetary damages and disgorgement for the excessive insulin prices resulting from violations of deceptive and unfair trade practices, unjust enrichment and breach of contract, among other potential claims.

Ms. Smith received her bachelor’s degree from University of Kentucky in 1991, where she graduated with honors. She received her Juris Doctorate Degree from West Virginia University College of Law in 1997. As a member of the WVU Law Moot Court team, she was a quarter finalist in the Tulane Law Mardi Gras Moot Court Invitational.

She is a member of the West Virginia Bar Association, the Kentucky Bar Association, and the West Virginia Association for Justice.